Controllable, continuous and large tilt optical micromirror device integrated with VLSI technologies

这项研究计划的目标是开发一个集成的技术平台，其中微光学镜可以在电信行业最需要的范围内连续倾斜。标准CMOS/BiCMOS工艺将用于制造和微尺度致动的新概念将被探索。 静电驱动由于其低功耗而受到许多微机电系统（MEMS）应用的青睐。静电致动器的一个重要特性（或限制）是它们的吸合电压，超过该吸合电压，静电扭矩克服机械扭矩，并且可移动板突然卡扣到固定电极平面。典型的静电致动器的全倾斜范围的仅约30%是可控的。该项目的一个主要目标是大幅度增加可动板的可控倾斜。它将使用“智能”电极和混合驱动方案来实现。 在另一方面，光网络组件操作的复杂性需要复杂的电子操作。所提出的努力将基于超大规模集成电路平台和电子控制算法将被开发，以解决静电镜的抢购效果。支持电路将包括电源、D/A和A/D转换、数据采集、信号调理和数字信号处理。 所提出的系统的应用包括各种显示子系统，条形码扫描，自适应光学系统，微流体和电信。在光网络领域，可用于衰减器、均衡器、复用器、交叉连接器、数据发送器和光开关等产品。光学MEMS和微电子的集成提供了巨大的潜力，不仅显着的性能和成本的改善，但也打开了大门，为许多新的应用是不可行的分立元件为基础的系统。

The objective of this proposed research program is to develop an integrated technology platform where a micro optical mirror can be tilted continuously over a range most desired by telecom industry. Standard CMOS/BiCMOS processes will be used for the fabrications and novel concepts of micro-scale actuations will be explored.      Electrostatic actuation is favored for many MicroElectroMechanicalSystem (MEMS) applications because of its low power consumption. An important property (or limitation) of the electrostatic actuators is their pull-in voltage, beyond which the electrostatic torque overcomes the mechanical torque, and the movable plate snaps abruptly to the fixed electrode plane. Only about 30% of the full tilt range of a typical electrostatic actuator is controllable. One major goal of this project is to increase the controllable tilt of movable plate substantially. It will be achieved using "intelligent" electrodes and hybrid actuation scheme.      In another aspect, complexities of optical network component operation require sophisticated electronics operations. The proposed efforts will be based on VLSI platform and an electronic control algorithm will be developed to address the snapping effect of the electrostatic mirror. Supporting circuitry will include power supply, D/A and A/D conversion, data acquisition, signal conditioning, and digital signal processing.         The applications for the proposed systems include a variety of display subsystems, bar code scanning, adaptive optics systems, microfluidics and telecommunications. In optical network field, it can be used for products like attenuators, equalizers, multiplexers, cross-connects, data transmitters and optical switches. The integration of optical MEMS and micro-electronics offers enormous potential for not only significant performance and cost improvement, but also opening the doors for many novel applications which are not feasible for discrete components based system.